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Gallagh Man
Gallagh Man
Diedc. 400–200 BC
Gallagh bog, near Castleblakeney, County Galway, Ireland
Body discovered
1821
Resting place
National Museum of Ireland, Dublin
Known forIron Age bog body

Gallagh Man is the name given to a preserved Iron Age bog body found in County Galway, Ireland, in 1821. The remains date to c. 470–120 BC, and are of a six-foot (1.8 m) tall, healthy male with dark and reddish hair, who is estimated to have been about 25 years old at the time of death. The presence of a withy hoop – rope made from twisted willow twigs – found wrapped around his throat indicates that he was strangled during a ritual killing[1][2] or executed as a criminal.[3]

Gallagh Man was found buried in a ten-foot (3.0 m) deep grave in a peat bog, dressed in a long leather mantle, and pinned down by two long wooden stakes. His teeth and hair were almost fully preserved, and even though the body is severely dehydrated and thus shrivelled, it has suffered from little shrinkage and is overall exceptionally well-preserved.[4]

Discovery

[edit]
Detail of the head

Gallagh Man was discovered in 1821 by labourers working for the O'Kelly family while digging peat from a bog in Gallagh, a townland outside Castleblakeney, County Galway.[5] The O'Kellys were a well-known and powerful family in the region, whose ancestors had built a castle at Gallagh during the medieval period.[6]

Its exact find location was not recorded,[7] but the likely area is adjacent to a contemporary townland, parish, and barony boundary, which was the medieval boundary of the Uí Maine kingdom ruled by the O'Kelly (Ó Ceallaigh) family.[6]

The body was fastened to the end of the ten-foot (3.0 m) deep grave by two pointed wooden stakes[2][8][9] which appear to have been placed so that either the body would not rise to the surface, or that the victim's soul would not escape.

Condition and preservation

[edit]

After his discovery in 1821, Gallagh Man soon became a local curiosity. Over the following eight years, the O'Kelly family periodically exhumed the body to display him to paying visitors before reburying him in the bog.[10][11] This repeated handling damaged parts of the remains and associated artefacts.[12]

Gallagh Man nevertheless retains much of his original height and bodily proportions, although the remains became dehydrated and shrivelled after their removal from the bog.[13] His teeth, long dark reddish-brown hair and beard are also preserved.[14]

Clothing and associated items

[edit]
Close view of head and torso

He was buried naked except for a long deerskin mantle or cape,[15] which reached to his knees,[16][17] while a long stick was placed in the grave alongside him.[17]

The leather mantle was badly damaged during disinterment, but surviving fragments are displayed at the National Museum. It was sewn together with three knotted gut threads.

A 19th-century study states that the "regularity and closeness of the stitches are most remarkable, as shown by the accompanying cut [of a proportion of one of the joinings ... see image to right] ... this closure was effected by ... a looped stitch similar to that used in working a button-hole, so that by having each stitch knotted the chances of ripping was lessened."[8]

Scientific study

[edit]

Radiocarbon dating placed Gallagh Man between approximately 470 and 120 BCE.[16] Examination of the remains indicated that he was an adult male who was approximately 25 years old when he died.[2]

Early descriptions recorded that Gallagh Man was exceptionally well preserved when discovered in 1821. His teeth were described as complete, and dark-brown hair remained on his head and face.[18] The condition of the remains changed after their removal from the peat bog. Drying caused a reduction of up to 50 per cent in the body's surface area and the loss of some head and facial hair.[19]

Gallagh Man was discovered before the development of modern methods of archaeological excavation, documentation and conservation. His repeated exhumation and reburial damaged parts of the remains and associated artefacts, while the precise location of the grave was not recorded.[20] Later study has therefore relied on the surviving remains, early written descriptions and drawings of the original burial.[16]

Cause of death

[edit]
Full view of the remains

Elements of his burial indicate he did not die from natural causes. The body was pinned down by stakes, and a withy hoop was found wrapped around his throat.[2][16][21]

The withy hoop around his neck may have been part of a spancel for restraining animals.[22] It was probably used as a garrotte to strangle him, perhaps during a ritual involving human sacrifice,[23] given that most of such bodies from this period are young males aged 25 to 40 years old, and like many of these victims, his hair had been closely cropped.[24]

It is also possible that he was simply murdered or executed as a criminal.[5] However, the willow rope strongly suggests ritual sacrifice; they are often mentioned for this purpose in early Irish mythological stories such as the Táin Bó Cúailnge.[25]

Exhibition

[edit]

After his discovery in 1821, Gallagh Man remained at the find site in County Galway for eight years, during which the O'Kelly family periodically exhumed the body for public viewing.[5][26] In 1829, the remains were purchased by the Royal Irish Academy, Ireland's principal learned society, and became part of its archaeological collections.[16]

Gallagh Man was later transferred to the National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology in Dublin, where he is now exhibited in the museum's Kingship and Sacrifice exhibition alongside other Irish Iron Age bog bodies, including Old Croghan Man and Baronstown West Man.[16][23] The exhibition explores archaeological evidence for violence, ritual deposition, kingship and religious belief in Iron Age Ireland (c. 500 BC – c. AD 400), and examines how archaeological interpretations of bog bodies have changed over time.[23]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ Contemporary ritual killings were often fertility offerings linked to sovereignty rites. See Kelly (2007), pp. 78-79
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Bog Bodies of the Iron Age: Gallagh Man". PBS. Retrieved 14 May 2021
  3. ↑ "Gallagh Man, a bog body from Co. Galway | Irish Archaeology". irisharchaeology.ie. 17 February 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  4. ↑ "Archaeology And Cultural Heritage". Irish Environmental Protection Agency, July 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2021
  5. 1 2 3 Haughton (2019), p. 108
  6. 1 2 Kelly (Archaeology Ireland, 2006)
  7. ↑ Kelly (Spring, 2006), p. 26
  8. 1 2 Wood-Martin (1886), p. 54
  9. ↑ Williams (2003), p. 95
  10. ↑ Haughton, Brian. Hidden History: Lost Civilizations, Secret Knowledge, and Ancient Mysteries. Franklin Lakes, New Jersey: New Page Books, 2019, p. 108. ISBN 978-1-5641-4897-1
  11. ↑ Schuster, John. Haunting Museums. New York: Tor, 2013, p. 30. ISBN 978-1-4299-5919-3
  12. ↑ Kelly, Eamonn P. "Secrets of the Bog Bodies: The Enigma of the Iron Age Explained". Archaeology Ireland, vol. 20, no. 1, Spring 2006, p. 26.
  13. ↑ Haglund, William D.; Sorg, Marcella H. Advances in Forensic Taphonomy: Method, Theory, and Archaeological Perspectives. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press, 2001, p. 126.
  14. ↑ Grant, C. C. "Irish Celts and Their Relics". Journal and Proceedings of the Hamilton Association for the Cultivation of Literature, Science and Art, part 7, 1891, p. 166.
  15. ↑ Recht (2018), p. 214
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Violence in the Bog". Archaeological Institute of America. Retrieved 14 May 2021
  17. 1 2 Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmoreland Antiquarian & Archeological Society. The Society, 1989
  18. ↑ Grant, C. C. "Irish Celts and Their Relics". Journal and Proceedings of the Hamilton Association for the Cultivation of Literature, Science and Art, part 7, 1891, p. 166.
  19. ↑ Ogilvie, Ticca (2020). "Conserving Bog Bodies: The Key Questions". Journal of Wetland Archaeology. doi:10.1080/14732971.2020.1826196.
  20. ↑ Kelly, Eamonn P. "Secrets of the Bog Bodies: The Enigma of the Iron Age Explained". Archaeology Ireland, vol. 20, no. 1, Spring 2006, p. 26.
  21. ↑ Kelly (Scéal na Móna, 2006), p. 58
  22. ↑ Kelly (2012 NY), p. 237
  23. 1 2 3 "Kingship and Sacrifice". National Museum of Ireland. Retrieved 3 August 2026.
  24. ↑ Bentley (2015), p. 36
  25. ↑ Kelly (Scéal na Móna, 2006), p. 58
  26. ↑ Schuster (2013), p. 30

Sources

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  • Bentley, Diana. "The Dark Secrets of the Bog Bodies: Interview with Eamonn P. (Ned) Kelly". The International Review of Ancient Art & Archaeology, March/April 2015
  • Giles, Melaine. "Iron Age bog bodies of north-western Europe. Representing the dead". Archaeological Dialogues, volume 16, Issue 1, June 2009
  • Grant, C.C. (Col). "Irish Celts and their Relics". Hamilton, Ont: Journal and proceedings of the Hamilton Association for the Cultivation of Literature, Science and Art, Part 7, 1891
  • Haglund, William; Sorg, Marcella. "Advances in Forensic Taphonomy: Method, Theory, and Archaeological Perspectives". CRC Press, 2001. ASIN: B01G50QMXM
  • Haughton, Brian. Hidden History: Lost Civilizations, Secret Knowledge, and Ancient Mysteries. Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page Books, 2019. ISBN 978-1-5641-4897-1
  • Kelly, Eamonn. "An Archaeological Interpretation of Irish Iron Age Bog Bodies". In: "The Archaeology of Violence: Interdisciplinary approaches". The Institute for European and Mediterranean Archaeology Distinguished Monograph, Series 2. State University of New York Press, 2012
  • Kelly, Eamonn. "Irish Iron Age Bog Bodies" (lecture). Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 9 January 2012
  • Kelly, Eamonn. "Bodies from the Bog: New Insights into Life and Death in Pagan Celtic Ireland." In: Fagan, Brian (ed), Discovery! Unearthing the Bodies from the Bog: New Insights into Life and Death in Pagan Celtic Ireland’. London: Thames and Hudson, 2007. ISBN 978-0-5000-5149-8
  • Kelly, Eamonn. "Secrets of the bog bodies: the enigma of the Iron Age explained". Archaeology Ireland, volume 20, no. 1, issue 75, Spring 2006
  • Kelly, Eamonn. "Bog Bodies – Kingship and Sacrifice". Scéal na Móna, volume 13, no. 60, December 2006
  • Kelly, Eamonn. "Kingship and Sacrifice: Iron Age Bog Bodies and Boundaries". Archaeology Ireland, Heritage Guide, No. 35, 2006
  • Ogilvie, Ticca. "Conserving Bog Bodies: The Key Questions". Journal of Wetland Archaeology, 2020. DOI: 10.1080/14732971.2020.1826196
  • Recht, Laerke. Human Sacrifice: Archaeological Perspectives from around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. ISBN 978-1-1087-2820-1
  • Schuster, John. Haunting museums. NY: Tor, 2013. ISBN 978-1-4299-5919-3
  • Tarr, Clayton Carlyle. "Absolute Heathenism: Bog Bodies and the Archaeology of Nineteenth-Century Literature". Nineteenth Century Studies, volume 27, 2013
  • Williams, Howard. Archaeologies of Remembrance: Death and Memory in Past Societies. NY: Springer, 2003. ISBN 978-0-3064-7451-4
  • Wood-Martin, William Gregory. The lake dwellings of Ireland: or ancient lacustrine habitations of Erin, commonly called crannogs. Dublin Hodges, Figgis & Co., 1886
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